Academic Writing Tutorial: The Structure Of An Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays are used to convince readers of a particular belief or conclusion because it is supported by evidence. Various sources of information and experimentation are used to gather supporting data. Here are seven basic tips to writing an argumentative essay:

Present your case

In the first part of this paper you present your case to the reader, in a manner that peaks their interest. Your opening statement can be controversial or even shocking to the reader which should incite them to read on.

State your reasons

Most discoveries are made because someone made a peculiar observation. This initial phenomena then inspires the individual to further investigate the truth behind what they just observed. In the second part, you should outline to the reader what experience you had that inspired you to pursue this research.

Present supporting evidence

In this part you make your case by presenting objective evidence that supports your beliefs. The data must be presented in a manner that makes it easiest to understand by any reader, or it would fail as a means of persuasion.

Present non-supporting evidence

It is equally important that you present evidence that refutes your claim in an objective manner. This allows the reader to fully understand the entire situation and come to their own conclusion. The best argumentative essay is one where presentation of data is enough to gain the favor of the readers.

Legitimacy

You may have used various methods to gather your data or just one. In this section you outline to the reader the measures and protocols used to ensure genuine research or experimentation. The apparatus used, the design of the experiment, as well as written sources, must each be validated to show its adherence to scientific and research standards.

Conclusion

In this section you declare your statement as true and further outline how the evidence supports it after completely exploring all sides of the argument. This section will be brief as you have already analyzed both sides of the argument in previous sections.

Provide proper Reference and citation

There has been many research papers and experiments done before you and it is unavoidable to sometimes have to refer to previously done works. When quoting someone, it is important to not misquote them as this can appear to be a deliberate attempt at sabotage. Your paper must also include a detailed reference section giving recognition to each author and texts used in your research.